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David Kizirian Kisses Barbarella by Melanie Manchot

David Kizirian Kisses Barbarella by Melanie Manchot
Accession Code: wu0780
Title: David Kizirian Kisses Barbarella
Date completed: 2000
Medium: Photograph
Location Name: Picture Store
Location Description:
Location Floor: 0

Purchased by the Contemporary Art Society Special Collection Scheme on behalf of Mead Gallery, University of Warwick with funds from the Arts Council Lottery, 2001

Melanie Manchot is a German artist living in London who has used video and photography to explore notions of intimacy and gesture as a currency of exchange. This photograph is from a series, The L.A. Pictures, which records the moment of a kiss between partners. The nearest participant has his or her back to the camera so that the couple merge optically to become a single figure.

She asked them to write down the name of the person whom they would most like to kiss and the caption below each photograph indicates the choice of one of the partners. This introduces an element of fantasy and imagination lying beyond the intimate gesture witnessed by the viewer.